Reflection

over the course of this semester I’ve been blogging on all kinds of topics that relate to hunting. Since i was young I’ve loved hunting and being outside and still to this day consider myself an avid outdoorsman. Writing this blog was an extremely natural process for me and allowed me to write about something that i actually care about versus previous writing assignments I have dreaded in other courses. Writing this blog thread was convenient because it allowed me to write straight from my personal experiences and prior knowledge in the hunting world. Not having to search for information or subjects of my blogs allowed me to create what i consider solid responses without the hassle of researching etc. I really did write everything straight from my brain so I did not really absorb any new knowledge in creating my responses. Overall I really enjoyed this medium for a writing assignment it was really interactive and allowed us to use a technology new to most of us, Word press. Also I think I really enjoyed this particular type of assignment  because we were able to choose our own semester long topic to report on making writing this many response less painful.

Bow Madness

In this past month all of the major archery companies have released their new 2010 bows and accesories. Being in the market for a new bow Ive been putting in a lot of work researching and shooting these new bows. In general there are two big name brands that control the archery market; Mathew’s and Bowtech Archery. Both of these companies make great products that will get the job done, but their are some suttle differences when comapring these bows that makes one bow the right one for you. When testing bows I looked for all the things that matter when hunting;  how comfortable the bow fit in my hand, the amount of vibration after a shot, the weight, and how quiet the bow shot an arrow. Heres how they broke down: Mathew’s Reezen 7.0 bow was very comfortable to hold and balanced when i gripped it and has a very stylish appearance. The bow shot extremely fast, over 340 feet per second which is amazing in the archery world. But, when drawing back the bow there was almost a “hitch,” or there was a unsmooth transition between a resting position and drawn back as well as a lot of vibration after the shot creating a small amount of noise. That was a definite turn off for me since a smooth drawing quite bow is key to being undetected by game just before a shot. The Bowtech Destroyer 350 was the quitest and smoothest bow I have ever shot; “you wouldnt even know you had shot if your eyes were closed.” It also shot exeptionaly fast, 325 feet per second but, the red graphics that read “Destroyer” scrolled across both limbs is alittle over the top and goofy looking in my opinion. Both bows are very close in comparrison, the questionis whether the aesthics or the vibration is more of an issue to me? I still haven’t decided

Early Season Scouting

The 2009 texas deer season began this past saturday and across the state hunters have begun scouting their property in search of signs of trophy bucks. When assessing the potential of your hunting property there are several helpful tools and techniques to help you determine the quality of deer on your land. There are the traditional methods of judging the size of tracks surrounding waterholes, spotlighting game, or analyzing “rubs.” Rubs are vertical scrapes made on trees in a bucks core area. These scrapes are created when a whitetail sheds the velvet off of it’s antlers by scratching it off against a tree. Much can be learned about a buck by evaluating a scrape on a tree, how deep the abrasions are, the length of the scrape, and how large the tree is that the deer chose to use are all ways of judging the size of the buck’s rack. Today we have new modernized ways of scouting our properties that have begun to replace the more traditional, personal field observations. First, every season we conduct a helicopter fly-over survey to count the number of deer on the land as well as judge the quality and size of bucks inhabiting the ranch this year. Along with helicopter surveys a popular new method of scouting is through the use of digital motion cameras. These are self contained digital cameras used to photograph passing wildlife. The cameras use a motion sensor to trigger an attached digital camera to take a photo as an animal moves in front of the camera. SInce the creation of this handy product the concept has grown and become more and more technologically advanced. Today we have motion cameras that use infra-red flash to not spook passing game, as well as cameras that use a cellular network to wirelessly forward wildlife photos to your email account with the gps location of where the photo was taken.

Mac vs PC

This advertisement is part of the popular apple advertising campaign that has been running for the past year or so. The ads use simple straightforward comparrisons between a mac and a pc to create humorous and effective ads. Using these two actors for all of the ads throughout the campaign has created a visual recognition between the viewers and these characters. The concept is that the actor representing mac is portrayed as cool, simple and easy against an older, problem filled, unorganized PC represented by a less “cool” middle aged actor in a suit with glasses.

This ad makes a visual argument proposal through promoting consumers to purchase easy to use- cool macs over apple’s competition, the pc. In this particular ad apple attacks windows most recent operating program, vista. The broken neon light represents a faulty system and sends the message to consumers not to waste their time purchasing a pc because of their poor operating system while the actor representing mac id cool, calm and collected.

Elk Hunting

This Thursday I am leaving for a 4 day Elk hunt in New Mexico. Elk hunting is one of the most exciting and interactive hunting experiences in the world. While we will be in New Mexcio is the prime time to catch big bulls moving. This time of year in the Rockys is called the “rut”, or mating season. The rut provides hunters with the best chance of sneaking up on a monster bull because all of the big bys have their attention focused on chasing hot cows through the rolling meadows of the high country. This trip Im going to leave to rifle at home and venture out with just a bow and arrow in hopes of catching a big bull of guard in full rut. Getting within 40 yards of a mature bull is a very difficult task but with their lowered awareness during the rut and plenty of foliage still on the trees before the first few freezes the odds are a little more stacked in favor of the hunter. The way you hunt elk this timeof year is get fully camoed up, spray your self with scent elimanting sprays and work with the wind to make a stealth approach on a bull. During the rut you also utilize cow calls mimicing a cow in heat, has you call you sit and wait for any nearby bull to come in running. Also during this crazy part of the season you get more sightings of the usually nocturnal monster bulls because with mating season the larger bulls become territorial and patrol their core area. One very productive technique is using a bugle call that immitates the hair raising sound of a big bull stablishing his dominance and if there is a big bull in the area be ready with a n arrow nocked because he will come running in looking to prove hes in charge

Makin the Book

The single most well known method for scoring white-tailed deer is the Boone and Crockett method. The Boone and Crockett score, or B&C, is so common that when someone ask, “what’s he score,” it’s already assumed the score is based on the Boone and Crockett system. This system is not just used in contests, or to measure already harvested deer, but also by managers to monitor the progress of their deer mangement programs. Although there are other methods to score a buck’s rack, the B&C scoring system is the most widely used and accepted method of judging the quality of an animal.

When scoring your buck, some of the factors that contribute to a buck’s score are mass (circumference of the antler), beam length, the individual tine lengths, the number of tines, and the inside spread between the two main beams. Thus, heavier antlers have higher mass measurements than thin-horned racks, longer beams are better, bucks with larger inside spreads get more points, and longer and more tines boost your deer’s score. When all added up in inches, this series of measurements give you Gross B&C score.

There are, however, deductions when scoring antlers using the B&C method. Deductions are based on symmetry. Deductions are the differences in length, mass, and number of tines between one side of the rack and the other. After adding up all the deduction inches (differences in symmetry) you then subtract that number from your gross score to come to your final Net B&C score. Net scores in my opinion are irrelevant, I think that oddities such as extra points, drop tines and irregular rack configurations are interesting and give the buck character.

Although scoring your bucks can provide valuable information on the growth and health of your deer population, I don’t use a numeric value to determine how great a buck is. I measure the value of a deer based on the experience of taking the animal, unusual features, and character in his rack. But at our ranch we log each bucks score into spreadsheets to determine the success of our wildlife management program. If the gross scores of mature bucks is increasing annually it reflects that we are doing something right.

Blog 5

This clever political cartoon uses humor as an effective means of reaching it’s viewers. The over publicized Dick Cheney- pheasant hunting incident is cleverly mocked, along with his known anti democratic stance. Supported by reading through “Everything is an Argument,” I feel that humor is the best channel of communication between firms and their target audience. Humor is something that registers with just about everyone and is the most effective way to imbed your message in the audiences memory. For example, the recently popular Free Credit Report.com advertisment series uses humor and a catchy musical tune to force viewers to remeber their ad and store that message in the memory. These types of ads are especially successful because simply when you go to purchase a credit service who are you going to remember? A boring long strand of text that doesnt use humor in the ads or the youthful, young, catchy ads you humm to everytime the commercial aires? As we read in “Everything is an Argument” humor is proiven to be the best way to reach an audience regardless of the medium; text, commercials, or cartoons.

Blog Response 4

Dear Texas Parks and Wildlife,

 

I am writing concerning a grant of a MLD Permit (managed land permit) for our property in southwest Texas. Our property I feel is too large for my immediate family and friends to manage properly. To keep our buck to doe ratio at a healthy number we need to harvest a greater number of animals every season. With the addition of a new MLD Permit we would be allowed a longer legal hunting season lasting nearly till march, allowing us to organize more hunts for outside customers each year. Having this annual extension would allow us to improve the quality of the deer herd in our area dramatically, by thinning out the overpopulation and rebalancing the herd at the appropriate carrying capacity determined by our wildlife biologist. This inquiry is especially important after the lack of rain we have received the past two seasons causing our deer to be malnourished and unhealthy. Please let me know any steps we must take to begin this process.

 

Thank you for your consideration,

 

Phillip Halliday

10 Interests

1. Bow Hunting
2. San Antonio
3. Grateful Dead
4. Bowling
5. Ranches
6. Fly Fishing
7. Los Spurs
8. Pirates
9. Live Music
10. Argentina

Blog Response 1

 

Overpopulation Without Hunting

Killing free ranging wild animals used to be a part of everyday life. Today hunting has become a much talked about and controversial issue across america. Hunting is something I have enjoyed for as long as I can remember and something I will continue to enjoy for the rest of my life. A majority of the opposition looks down on our sport for the very reason that we now consider it a sport. Many of these anti-hunting groups view killing an animal purely for your own meal as acceptable, but hunting and killing a deer for sport and maybe some meat is absolutely outrageous. In my opinion these people are completely ignorant and uneducated on the topic. For starters, hunting is an effective form of deer management. There is only so many natural resources for our wildlife and as our urban populations grow and consume these resources the deer are forced into smaller and smaller ranges with less cover and forage. As these resources the deer population continues to exponentially increase and there is a serious shortage of food and grazing for the animals. Hunting licenses for each county and each state are distributed based on the work of wildlife biologists that determine the number of animals that need to be taken in each county based on the healthy carrying capacity of the land in the county. When hunters come and take these animals they leave the area balanced and keep the deer population at a healthy number for the spring and summer breeding seasons too come. And with prime numbers and available forage the does are able to give birth and sustain healthy fawns over the long summers.

For More Info: 

Quality Deer Management Association

Whitetail Overpopulation